Todas Contra John

When I walked into to see this movie, I was not looking forward to it in THE LEAST. I was just coming to see it because a friend wanted to and I hadn't been out of the house in a while. So, I expected the worst possible thing. Now it wasn't the worst possible thing and so that is why I think I didn't mind it very much. That is not to say it is that great. If you are expecting something AMAZING, it's not. It's just a pointless chick flick, reusing familiar jokes over and over. Some of these jokes were funny, but very old and worn out. If you are a female under 18 years of age looking for a non-thought provoking movie, than this is your movie!

You'd think that a movie called "John Tucker Must Die" will approach the parameters of a gritty look on high school-style existentialism. As the National Geographic Channel puts it, think again.

John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives") is the star of their high school's basketball team, and he's secretly dating three girls simultaneously. Upon learning how their "serial-cheating" boyfriend is three-timing them, cheerleader Heather (Ashanti), intellectual Carrie (Arielle Kebbel) and activist Beth (Sophia Bush) plot for revenge. They set him to fall for new girl Kate Spencer (Brittany Snow) and have her break his heart later on.

So that's "John Tucker Must Die." It's a film that tries to go for the feel-good parts of the standard teen flick, along with the usual high school relationship subplots. But gritty it's not. Though initially the movie seems to head towards being an effective satirical comedy, it immediately becomes just another stock sleaze. Betty Thomas' direction is breezy enough but she fails to give the film a distinctive bite as Jeff Lowell's screenplay seems not to draw a bead on to the vaguest notion of creativity.

Metcalfe is effective as the eponymous lead while Snow (who I recall as Zoe in "The Pacifier") could have been charming but the problematic script doesn't give her a juicy character that could rise beyond its stereotype and she ends up bland. In fact, one could arguably root more for John Tucker. As for the rest of the cast, they're a mixed bag with Ashanti and Jenny McCarthy as Kate's mom figuring prominently in my head.

"John Tucker Must Die" isn't so much an absolute schlock. Despite its transparent and derivative nature, it does have some of its moments that elicit chuckles. It's that sort of movies I watch on sleepless nights on cable given the right mood. But with a title as toothsome as that, it tantalizingly could have been way better.

...But, Jesse Metcalfe is still hot. Shame about his limited acting ability though, as the infamous John Tucker was simply a more confident version of his "Desperate Housewives" character John Rowland, but nevertheless, Metcalfe seems to enjoy his characters, and certainly makes them come to life. In the case of "John Tucker must Die", Metcalfe's John Tucker is the most popular guy in school and a total player, cheating on three girls from different social circles, who were never meant to find out - until they unexpectedly had gym class together.

The three girls being Ashanti's bitchy cheerleader Heather, Arielle Kebbel's smart hard working Carrie, and Sophia Bush's semi-reject, semi-slutty Beth. The girls all dislike each other very much and argue about who Tucker likes the most, but new girl Kate (played by the lovely Brittany Snow) points out to the girls that instead of fighting each other, they should be uniting to get revenge on the guy that has lied to them all - and thus begins the four girls attempting to bring down John Tucker.

"John Tucker Must Die" is strictly formulaic in terms of teen-comedies in that situations do not go as planned for the girls, causing Tucker to become even more popular (if that is at all humanly possible). Throw into the mix Kate's inexperience when it comes to guys, being caught between John Tucker and the affections of his brother 'the Other Tucker' Scott (Penn Badgley), and her mother (played very well by Jenny McCarthy) who has a lot of man problems herself.

"John Tucker Must Die" is a highly-likable film in terms of some funny moments, a fairly decent cast, a cool soundtrack and things move at a steady pace, but the main problem is that just when some morals are going to be dished out at the end of the film, something happens and the morals are not told. Which is a big shame, because for the target-audience of this film, they could really use some good morals being dished out to them. Nevertheless, "John Tucker Must Die" is an all-round enjoyable film. Oh - and Ashanti can act, but be warned - her fabulous hair often takes up most of the screen and at times over powers her performance. But she has great hair so that's okay.

John Tucker Must Die is an interesting film. The story follows a new girl, head cheerleader, hippie, and journalist. John Tucker is a popular guy in school. He is known to be a heartbreaker. The girls decided to have revenge against him. The movie is funny and good for passing time.

The only reason I wanted to see this movie was because I knew a John Tucker in high school, not only that, but I dated him. We're still friends now, but he still talks about all the girls he is dating simultaneously. So, I naturally thought this was a documentary about him. :D Well, I'm kidding. This did look like a crappy movie, therefore I did not want to see this flick. It looked like your typical teen movie and cheesy predictable plot.

Yeah, it had that, but I think in some strange way it offered more. I'm just at least seeing something a little more in this flick. Yeah, it had your typical stereotypical teens, and you could predict everything that would happen in the next scene. But still I think in it's own special way, this will win teens over. I don't think this is a bad movie. You have got to admit that you got a good laugh out of John Tucker trying on the lady's underwear, well, you'll have to see it to understand.

6/10